General George Pickett's Charge During The Civil War

In 1863, some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the Civil War took place. In late June of 1863, the Union and the Confederate armies collided at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg was arguably the turning point in the Civil War and within the Battle of Gettysburg, Pickett’s Charge is considered the high water mark of the Confederacy. Although the battle on 3 July is known as Pickett’s Charge, General George Pickett commanded less than half of the assaulting force and was not the one who planned the assault. To Pickett’s left and comprising over a third of the force, General J. Johnston Pettigrew commanded a division of four brigades with men from five southern states. Pettigrew had only assumed command the day prior when the original commander, General Harry Heth, had been wounded. It was a trial by

However as the division commander, he failed to establish trust with his brigade commanders and build cohesive teams amongst his four brigades who took heavy losses in men and officers the day prior. Pettigrew had two men new to brigade command; Colonel Marshall took over Pettigrew’s own brigade and Colonel Birkett Fry took over for the wounded General Archer. General Davis and Colonel Brockenbrough were still in charge of their brigades, but were known to be inexperienced and poor leaders respectively. Pettigrew was aware of the shortcomings of Davis and Brockenbrough but did little to affect their deficiencies. For Davis, Pettigrew took “great pains before the assault to see that the division moved out properly.” This pestering did not make Davis more confident in his role and did not serve to strengthen the relationship or build trust between Pettigrew and his new brigade